Noba

Then you have to think again!

It is true that gluten-free products do not contain wheat, but that does not mean that what the wheat has been replaced with is necessarily low FODMAP.

Gluten is a protein and therefore cannot be high FODMAP as FODMAPs are short chain carbohydrates. So it is not the gluten in the wheat that makes it high FODMAP, it is the fructans! Fructans are found naturally in wheat, but also in dates, onions and garlic to name a few other examples.

In other words, you don't necessarily have to eat gluten-free on a low FODMAP diet*.

Sourdough bread made from wheat and spelled is an example that is low FODMAP but contains gluten. What happens to the flour in sourdough bread is that the fructan content decreases during the fermentation process, which makes the result low FODMAP (with quantity restriction).

NB: Be aware that ready-made sourdough bread often contains yeast in addition to sourdough, and then the sourdough process will probably not be complete enough for the fructan content to be reduced enough. This is why many sourdough breads in the app are marked as high FODMAP. Bakeries that bake bread from scratch, such as Godt Brød, make some pure sourdough bread, which is therefore low FODMAP.

Having said that, there are many gluten-free products that are actually low FODMAP, but please note that this does not apply to all products. In gluten-free products, wheat, rye and barley have been replaced with different types of gluten-free flour. Examples of gluten-free flour types that are low FODMAP are corn flour, buckwheat flour and rice flour. Examples of gluten-free flour types that are high in FODMAP are chickpea flour, pea flour and lentil flour.

One must therefore check the ingredients list of gluten-free products to be sure that the product does not contain high FODMAP ingredients, even if the wheat, with its fructans, is not present in the product.

Hope this answered questions about gluten and low FODMAP!

*The exception is of course if you have celiac disease in addition to IBS, then you must eat gluten-free.

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If you would like information on other topics around the low FODMAP diet, please send an e-mail to tækkemelding@noba.app. We appreciate hearing from you!